How To Take Screenshot In Laptop (2020)

October 9, 2020 6:36 pm

Edited By Piyush, Reviewed By Gulshan

We are living in a digitized era where we rely on PCs and laptops to perform our utmost activities. There are times when we need to show what is active on the screen.

Whether you are working in a company or want to save the data for future references, screenshots play a crucial role.

Screenshots, also known as screencaps, is the easiest way to capture the image of a page on your screen.

Taking a screenshot has become handy these days, but it is entirely different for mobile phones and laptops. Well, the image can be of a whole screen or multiple screens.

The issue arises when they paste it or attach it in emails. No matter whether you have Windows laptop, Mac or Linux, a list of options are available that makes the process of taking a screenshot easy going.

How to Take Screenshots in Windows Laptop?

Whether it is Windows 7, 8 or 10, you can easily take screenshots with the default snipping tool.

Click on the Windows option on the left side of the desktop screen or Windows button from the keyboard.
In it, type Snipping tool and press Enter.
In the Mode option, choose Window snip or rectangular snip or full-screen snip or free form snip.
Click on the 'New' button for taking a screenshot and click on 'Save' to save it.
Using 'Highlighter' or 'Pen' buttons, you can draw on the screenshot for better illustration.

One of the important features of this snipping tool is that it provides several switch modes. Rectangular snip is the default mode. However, you can avail three different snips as well.

1
Window Snip: It helps you take the screenshot of the active window in a single easy click.
2
Free-form snip: Free-form snip, as the name suggests, allows you to capture the image in any shape. It can be an oval, 8-figured or circle, all quite easy to capture using free-form snip.
3
Full-screen snip: It captures the entire screen. It is quite handy for the users of the dual-monitor display, and want to take the screenshot of multiple screens at a single time.

Process of Taking a Screenshot on Ubuntu

Ubuntu is the famous version of the Linux operating system. It, too, has an in-built feature of taking a screenshot.

1
Take the mouse cursor towards the upper left corner of the screen. You will find the Activities Sidebar.
2
Click on the Screenshot app icon.
3
Finally, select it to take the screenshot of the current application or the particular area of the screen.
4
Select the 'Take Screenshot' button. Before saving the file, enter its name and location.

How to Take Screenshots on Mac?

The laptops of Mac have in-built options to take screenshots. To take the screenshot of the entire screen, press Shift, Command and '3' keys altogether. It automatically gets saved in the Desktop folder as .png file.

For taking a screenshot of a particular part of the screen, press Shift, Command and '4' keys together. While pressing the keys, hover the mouse to select the part, whose image you want, and release the keys and mouse together.

The image gets automatically saved in Mac's desktop folder as .png file. Another way to take screenshots in Mac Laptops is 'Preview application.' Steps are as follows:

1
Open Preview app
2
Select the file
3
Click on the 'Take screenshot' from the menu.
4
From the dropdown menu, select the required option, which includes, 'From Entire Screen,' 'From Selection' and 'From Window.'

If you are not satisfied with the above-listed steps, you can check the list of programs, called third-party screenshots, to take a screenshot on Mac and Windows. Some paid programs are Ember, FastStone Capture, Snagit, PicPick and alike.

However, free programs include Skitch, Nimbus Capture, Tiny Take and Greenshot. These programs provide additional tools to customize the image of the screenshot.

Today, HP and Dell are the most common brands of laptops used widely. Apart from just taking screenshots, it provides several features to edit and customize the image as per one's convenience.

How to take a screenshot on a PC or Laptop any Windows 2020

Detailed Steps to Take a Screenshot on HP Laptops

1
Firstly, you need to open the specific screen, which you want to take the screenshot. Make sure the display is appropriate for a perfect image.
2
The entire setting should be appropriate, mainly the settings. Make sure the information you don't require does not display on the screen. Date and time should be correct.
3
Now, check the 'PrtSc' or 'PrtScr' button on the keyboard. In HP laptops, it is usually present on the upper right corner of the keyboard. Generally, there can be a variation in the name of the button, depending on the models. Press PrtSc to take a screenshot. Hence, the image version of the page opened on your screen appears on the clipboard.
4
Once you take the screenshot, it is essential to retrieve or save the image for future references. Open Microsoft Paint or Microsoft Word or Powerpoint and press Ctrl + V to paste the image.
5
This step is all about editing the image. It includes adjusting the quality of image either using the Paint program or Snipping tool. Finally, save the changes to the desired location.

An alternative method to take a screenshot on HP laptops

Select the page of which you want to take the screenshot.
Simultaneously press the Windows button (present on the lower corner of the taskbar or even in the keyboard) and PrtScr keys.
Usually, the screen gets dim, which is an indication of taking a screenshot. If it fails to get dim, press the buttons firmly.
Open the start menu and type 'Screenshots' in the Search field. A folder named 'Screenshots' will appear on the upper part of the laptop's screen.
Open the selected file from the Screenshots folder.

Steps to Take a Screenshot on Dell Laptop

If you own a Dell laptop, steps are quite easy to follow. Take a look at it:

Capture a whole screen

Firstly, open the screen you want to take the screenshot. Press Ctrl + PrtScr or PritScr or Fn + Spacebar to automatically copy the page. Further, open MS-Paint or similar image processing application and paste it. Edit the image if required, and save the file in the device's location.
In this type, you can automatically save the image without opening any photo editing application or MS-Paint. Click on the page you want to capture and press Windows + Print Screen key. You can also use Fn + Windows + Print Screen. The file gets automatically saved under the Pictures folder.

Capture a particular part of the screen

Press Windows + Shift + S buttons from the keyboard to capture a particular part of the screen. The screen turns dim, and the cursor turns into a crosshair. To select the particular portion of the screen, drag the crosshair and save it in the desired folder. However, if you want to edit it, copy and paste the screenshot in MS-Paint.

Taking a screenshot using Snipping Tool

Many find it difficult to use different combinations of keys to take a screenshot on a laptop. Well, there are alternative options if you want to get rid of these shortcuts. The built-in application in the Windows operating system is the Snipping tool.

1
Open the start menu and type Snipping Tool in the Search field.
2
Open the application and click on the 'New' option.
3
Click on 'Mode' option and from the drop-down menu, select the snip type.
4
Select the particular part of the screen (that you want to capture) and save it.

Generally, different versions of Windows operating systems are quite common. No matter whichever version of Windows your laptop has, taking a screenshot is very easy. Check out the common ways to use keyboard buttons for taking a screenshot.

PrtScr: When you press the PrtScr button, it saves the image of the active screen on the screen. However, if more than one monitor is connected, a single click takes the screenshot of the entire screen connected all together as a single image.
Alt + PrtScr: Navigate the window or page that you want to capture and press Alt and PrtScr buttons simultaneously. Make sure the window, whose image you are taking, is in focus.
Win + PrtScr: When you press the windows button and PrtScr button simultaneously, it automatically takes the screenshot and saves the image in the default Pictures folder. Open the Pictures folder and click on the sub-folder named 'Screenshots.' You can find the image of the screenshot there.

Apart from the Win + PrtScr option, you have to save the file while pasting it in MS-Paint or other editing applications. Undoubtedly, the basic screenshot techniques in Windows are phenomenal. However, you can take the help of additional tools or third-party applications to get advanced features.

To ensure better annotation and illustration of the image, Snagit is the free Screenshot tool.

Snagit is easy to use and comes with a multitude of features. Whether it is taking a screenshot or editing, it also supports video grabbing that records the scrolling screen.

You can resize the image in MS-Paint, but additional edits are only possible through photo editing software. The steps of taking a screenshot and saving it is almost similar. However, there are slight differences in the type of laptop and operating system.

These are convenient and the most reliable method of taking a screenshot on the laptop.

Piyush

Follow me here

Share0

Tweet0

Share0

About the Author

Piyush Kashyap is a Ph.D student at Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Sangrur. He is a budding editor/ writer and has been working as a part-time reviewer for online content. He loves to read tech-based articles and has a knack for reviewing such articles He likes to stay updated about the latest trends in technology. He has also been working as a reviewer for many scientific journals. He also writes articles based on science. Know More About Piyush

Learn more